Category / Economics

by Hoosier Econ

Cost To Recover Dead Illegal Immigrant Bodies in Texas

Illegals crossing the border and entering into American society is still happening even though media doesn’t talk about it. American politicians on all levels are very accepting of people coming into this country with no reprecussions. This is a real political philosophy being acted out. Here are some recent headlines in the news….

–Illegal alien who has been deported numerous times kills American

–California drivers license for illegal immigrants more than doubles expectations

The Blaze.com brings a story from Brooks County, Texas and their story of how many bodies of illegal immigrants they have cleaned up and total cost the county has asorbed doing this task.

    Martinez said many of the people who try to dodge the checkpoint don’t make it. He said more than 400 bodies have been found in the last six and a half years. “We estimate that we recover less than half of all those who perish,” he said. “From 2008 to 2014 the Brooks County has spent almost $700,000 for body recoveries.”

The financial cost is big but the human cost of finding all these bodies is astonishing to me in the sense of where Brooks County, Texas is located.

brooks county, Texas

This isn’t just right on the border where it can be brushed away as something trivial. This is 70 miles inside the United States with an expectation the body count actually being double. Along with the job of cleaning up bodies, deputies are reporting gunfire at them from Mexican drug cartels who are more aggressive.

This is all happening 70 miles INSIDE the United States…….

border dead body

by Hoosier Econ

Happy Easter from Hoosier Econ

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by Hoosier Econ

Man That Proved Consumers Are Naive Dies

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Via People.com –

Gary Dahl, the man who became a millionaire by selling ordinary rocks, died on March 23 at the age of 78.

Dahl, an advertising copywriter, thought up the Pet Rock in 1975, after listening to friends complain about having to care for actual pets. The Pet Rock became an unlikely fad through Christmas that year. They sold for $4 each, and Dahl became a millionaire by the time the product was discontinued in February 1976.

by Hoosier Econ

2015 Medicaid Spending Up 21%

The numbers are staggering in how fast medicaid is growing and spending. This isn’t a sexy topic to talk about but that is the psychosis of America’s political landscape today. Here is some recent news pertaining to this federal government social program.

Via Wall Street Journal –

    Medicaid enrollment has surged 19% nationally since ObamaCare’s expansion—50% in New Mexico, 65% in Oregon, 81% in Kentucky. The Congressional Budget Office reports that Medicaid spending rose 21% in the first five months of fiscal year 2015, “largely because of” ObamaCare.

Another source, The Heritage Foundation added more data to the topic of medicaid growth –

    This jump does not even include the Obamacare insurance exchange subsidies that are now in place—a $7 billion increase so far this year. Medicaid and the Obamacare subsidies account for $28 billion of the $88 billion in mandatory spending increases this year. The extent to which growth of Obamacare and other entitlements is responsible for this increase is even more pronounced than at first glance. Leaving GSEs out of the equation, increases in Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies accounted for half of the mandatory spending increase so far this year. Meanwhile, defense spending is down nearly 5 percent.

One more item from Heritage is the overall growth of entitlement spending.

    Chart 12 shows the growth of more than 80 welfare programs since 2007—including food stamps, unemployment insurance, housing aid, Medicaid, and disability payments. Some of these increases were results of the recession, while others were due to Obama policies that expanded eligibility and cancelled work requirements. Since 2008, spending has soared 37.2 percent in these programs. Since 2007, spending has mushroomed nearly 55 percent

entitlement spending

by Hoosier Econ

Pictures of Food Stamps Being Celebrated

Lauren Cooley over at TurningPointUSA.net found a celebration on social media of people using food stamps i.e. EBT cards. Take a look at the story here. I’m only posting 4 photos but she posted a lot more for the public to see.
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by Hoosier Econ

Music Industry Recording Revenue 1974 – 2009

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Forgot I had this in my records for a post. I have no idea where I got it from so I apologize for not being able to give anyone their proper credit. The numbers are fascinating.

by Hoosier Econ

Are Pork Prices About to Become Cheaper?

In January I blogged about hog numbers expanding. Now more expansion has happened within the state and nationally. That is good news on the supply side which hopefully equates to some lower prices.

Here is more from HoosierAgToday.com –

Indiana’s total hog and pig inventory on March 1 was estimated at 3.65 million head, up 300,000 head from a year ago, according to Greg Matli, State Statistician, of the USDA, NASS, Indiana Field Office.

United States inventory of all hogs and pigs on March 1, 2015 was 65.9 million head. This was up 7 percent from March 1, 2014, but down slightly from December 1, 2014. Breeding inventory, at 5.98 million head, was up 2 percent from last year, and up 1 percent from the previous quarter.

by Hoosier Econ

Inflation Alert: College Textbooks

college textbooks

Recent data compiled is showing college textbooks are rising at a double digit rate. The National Association of College Stores has price comparisons on new textbooks college students buy.

    Average Price of New Books
    2007: $56
    2015: $72
    Price increase of 22%

Here are some other stats concerning college students and textbooks

    Average student spending for a semester of course materials
    $509

    Average college bookstore profit margin for a new book
    21.1%

    Percent of students who buy their books at their college bookstore
    47%

    Percent of students who say they have skipped buying a textbook because it was too expensive
    65%

H/T StatisticBrain.com

by Hoosier Econ

Angie’s List Inc. is Perfect Example of Crony Capitalists

Angie’s List Inc.recently announced they put their Indianapolis project on hold due to the new RFRA law signed by Indiana Governor Mike Pence. This company has been bleeding money for quite some time and just went to the state begging for $18.5 million in public assistance. Here is snapshot I took this morning of how bad the stock has dropped in one year:
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Overall Angie’s List announcement on this matter is more desperation than practical. Crony capitalist companies like Angie’s List use tactics like this to hedge their bets in order to get more money out lawmakers then standing up for some social issue.

by Hoosier Econ

2015 Easter Retail Sales

Easter retail season is upon the United States and sales should spike this week. Here is what the National Retail Federation has projected for Easter sales:

80% of Americans said they plan to celebrate the Easter holiday this year by doling out an average $140.62 per person, up 2.3% from a year ago. Spending this Easter is expected to top $16.4 billion, up from $15.8 billion last year.

Here is a breakdown of the spending:

New clothes – $2.9 billion
Food – $5.3 billion
Candy – $2.2 billion
Gifts – $2.4 billion
Flowers – $1.1 billion
Decorations – $998 million
Greeting cards – $695 million

To this blogger, here is what my money will be spent on….

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H\T TheCityWire.com